Household incomes in Wendell trail those of 78% of U.S. towns
4% of workers work from home, next to 13% for Idaho as a whole. Poverty touches 8.3% of residents, where Idaho as a whole has 10.6%. Wendell grades C− for jobs and income and B+ for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Wendell and work: the main findings
The four measures behind Wendell’s grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Wendell is better than 24% of U.S. towns, #44 of 59 in Idaho. The poverty rate holds Wendell’s grade up; household income pulls it down ($57,266, U.S. $80,734).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Wendell could be anywhere from D to B+.
Wendell makes things: 43% of its jobs are in goods
880 jobs are based in Wendell.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Wendell, 2013 → 2023: 750 → 880. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.
Primary jobs covered by unemployment insurance (not the self-employed). Pay is monthly earnings. LEHD 2023.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Wendell’s own residents hold wherever they work.
A workday in Wendell: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 971 residents head out to work, 124 work right here, and 756 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (0.80 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
15% of working residents work in Twin Falls
Where Wendell clocks in
15% of workers
9% of workers
5% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
Each way, about 21 minutes from Wendell
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Wendell workers work from home, vs 13% across Idaho. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,470 commuters (the 5% who work from home are left out). Across Idaho: 84% drive alone, 1% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
How far Wendell’s workers travel
About 22% show a job over 50 miles away. Some of that is real, and some is employers that report every worker at a head office, so a few long commutes are on paper only.
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2023.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
The commute in Wendell is mostly behind the wheel
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Wendell is more walkable than 73% of U.S. towns, #26 of 59 in Idaho. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 8.1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 4.5% across Idaho, on an EPA index of 6.7.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,540 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service: no data. EPA’s transit file has no stops for most of this county (its agencies had not published schedules in the format EPA used in 2020). That is missing data, not a finding that there is no bus or train.
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 9.0% of Wendell households have no vehicle (Idaho 3.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Wendell’s commuters take a bus or train.
Wendell places 3,437th of 4,562 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 2,200 to 4,200
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 693 | Hidden Springs ID | 3,378 | $163K | 7.2% | 4.3% | 4% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 711 | Dalton Gardens ID | 2,496 | $80K | 4.6% | 1.1% | 8% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,092 | Ketchum ID | 3,643 | $93K | 5.2% | 0.0% | 37% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,435 | Pittsfield ME | 3,935 | $57K | 15.5% | 4.0% | 22% | C− |
| 3,436 | Salem Township PA | 4,174 | $62K | 11.7% | 6.4% | 13% | C− |
| 3,437 | Wendell ID | 3,090 | $57K | 8.3% | 6.4% | 11% | C− |
| 3,438 | Sebewaing Township MI | 2,602 | $54K | 9.6% | 4.2% | 19% | C− |
| 3,439 | Mecca Township OH | 2,315 | $54K | 12.7% | 3.9% | 2% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,562 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | D− |
Census ACS 2020–24 (income, poverty, unemployment), Census LEHD (work in town), TownRatings Jobs & income grades. Each town links to its Work & commute page.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Wendell, the top three, the last and three more from Idaho.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs, where the employer reports them. Income, poverty, unemployment, commute time and how people travel: Census ACS 2020–24 averages.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Wendell: questions
What is the median household income in Wendell?
$57,266 (±$20,828) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,800 across Idaho and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Wendell?
8.3%, against 10.6% across Idaho and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Wendell?
21 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Idaho and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Wendell work?
11% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Twin Falls (15%, 19 mi), Jerome (9%, 10 mi), Boise City (5%, 96 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Wendell walkable?
Wendell is more walkable than 73% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 6.7 out of 20, and 8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Wendell without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 9% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Wendell, from the people who make the trip.
More of Wendell
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs. Commute time, working from home and working out of state: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates. Distances are straight lines between home and work; real drives run longer. Walkability index, job access and transit service: U.S. EPA Smart Location Database. The two grades are our own summaries of these figures, not official ratings.